CP+ 2016: Things we found that had been cut in half

CP+ 2016: Things we found that had been cut in half

'I don't know, Rishi', I said in the press room, over warm coffee from a warm can. 'I don't know if I should do another 'things we found that had been cut in half' slideshow.' Rishi was silent. I went on: 'Is it even funny? And there aren't that many things at the show this year which have been cut in half. Mostly I've just seen things which are whole. I don't know whether I should do it'.

Rishi looked up. There was pain in his eyes. Confusion. The confusion of a child who's starting to suspect that Santa doesn't exist but isn't ready to believe it.

His normally whisper-quiet voice rose slightly. 'You have to do it' he said, almost pleading. His voice became louder still - 'You have to do it. Not because it's funny - Barney, listen to me. It's not funny. It has never been funny. But that's not why you do it. You do it because it's tradition.'

'Dammit, Rishi' I said, straightening in my chair and in the same motion, banging my knees against the oddly low desk, 'You're right. And stop yelling, you're freaking me out'.

Comments

Can anyone tell me what the purpose of those VERY thick single elements ? The location of these very thick (the 2 I noticed did not have complex 'face' shapes, just very thick) lens elements are certainly not for structural strength either.

I mostly thought that it was really the 'face' curves, whether symmetrical or asymmetrical, and it was the material coefficient of refraction, etc that made for the strength of the total refraction.

So is this thickness part of color correction or a 'cheaper' manor to attain a particular refraction value ??

While the original mercury style batteries aren't around for the Canon F1 (and others from that time period), there are non-mercury alternatives that work just fine. I own a few cameras from that time (including an F1) and have taken many pictures with modern alternative batteries.

Seeing lenses cut in half is interesting. However, I don't get the point of seeing cameras cut in half. What's the point? Don't they all look the same anyway! I would rather like to see each corresponding component laid flat explained and displayed instead.

I noted one little thing that I find a bit peculiar:The Tamron 90 macro & the Panasonic/Leica 100-400 did seem to have almost glossy surfaces on the insides of the "tubes". Would that not result in unnecessary reflections?

I have to say I'm a little disappointed in this post. Haven't we said for years that it's not the camera that matters, it's the photographer? Couldn't you find a single photographer who was cut in half for this show? Oh well, maybe next year.

After looking how complex lenses and cameras are inside, and how difficult is the engineering of those photographic tools, im thinking that we as consumers, should consider the FF cameras and the exotic prime lenses as real bargain. Hey nikon you should rise the prices of your top dslrs and lenses. Great job, take my money!!

I don't know why, but I find this old Nikon F and Canon F-1 much more nicely engineered.Somehow they look much more clean, solid and passionately designed. Of course to some extent this is due to the actual technology being much simpler.

"much more clean, solid and passionately designed." LOL, talk about ridiculous romanticizing! Yes, they are "more clean" because they barely have anything to them. More "solid"? Maybe yes, maybe no, but there's no way of telling that from these cut-aways. But I think today's cameras, especially pro bodies are more structurally advanced and structurally stronger because manufacturers have had decades to refine these designs. As for being more "passionately designed"...that's extreme romanticizing. With these older cameras, there wasn't much designing needed. They were basically just squarish light-tight boxes. Very few controls, very few ergonomic considerations...just not a whole lot of "design" to do "passionately. In comparison, today's cameras have a huge amount of design considerations required of them.

@T3You don't actually know what you're talking about. Are you an engineer at all, or some sort of "romantic" literature enthusiast trying to sound funny?

Even 25 years ago people would have designed these cameras drawing on paper and making calculations by hand. Can you even calculate the cosine of an angle or square root of without a computer or a calculator. I am convinced 99% of Americans today can't do it even with a computer.

Today we draw and design on a computer, can visualise any element we want in seconds, test the strength, run simulations with static and dynamic loads, electronic circuitry, electromagnetic fields, etc. We even have metal 3D printing and can design, print and test in hours.

Imagine how much time was needed 60 years ago, when all of this had to be envisioned, drawn and designed on paper, parts sized using hand calculations.

Even engineering information, today you can find in seconds on the internet, in PDF format, or even videos. 60 years ago you had to find a paper book in a library somewhere, go through it just to find some formulas.

I am not surprised that an American thinks the way you do actually. Your country has only 200 years of history at the end of the day.

I would like to see an article by Roger Cicala putting one of these lenses back together again . . . and then taking sample pictures with it . . . while commenting on what he sees some people doing to lenses . . . and that this is nothing.

How about an article on how they cut lenses in half, I guess there are several approaches? Do they cut the metal bits in one go, the lens elements separately/individually and then slot them in from the side?

I'm just glad I'm not the guy who has to attach a half-lens to a half-camera, as it must play havoc with the mount... (The Nikon lens on the D5 did look like it had been cut-in-half for a previous show.)

@FlashbackIt's possible but aberrations and sharpness would be an issue.That said, the world is full of 2-elements lenses (achromatic doublet).Pentax made a 2-elements lens, the 85mm f/2.2. Very, very soft, made for portraits.Leica made the Leica Telyt 400mm f/6.8, but there are a lot of 400-500mm lenses made with only an achromatic doublet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visby_lenses It it said that two of them are pretty good. Very low spherical abberation and low distortion almost to the edge. But I think you can not correct chromathic abberation with just one lens.

I thought a spherical lens would inavitably have spherical abarration. Thats why it is called spherical aberration. The focal lenght of an spherical lens depends on the distants from the center of the lens. And all the other abberations, coma, astigmatism, curvature of field, distortion are inherrant for spherical lenses. The best you can get with a single lens is the combination of a two aspherical surfaces like the design of the Visby lenses.

@Xentinus - When trying to make a point always be careful not to make incorrect analysis as you did:

A) You compare a 36 mp camera to cameras that need 50% more pixels to match the K-1 resolution.

B) You compare the prices of a product that is not yet released and the prices of cameras that are several years old and have seen most of their sales already.

C) You compare the K-1 to cameras lacking quite a few of the function that K-1 users are going to enjoy daily.

I shoot landscapes and cityscapes - there is currently no Nikon or Canon camera that will match the microcontrast and the chroma resolution of a K-1 shot made with using Pixel-Shift! It is that simple, even if I was willing to pay more for them...

Stu 5,K1's sensor size is the same as D750...They are both full-frame cameras.If u are talking about megapixel,yes D8x0 has the same 36 mp sensor.The only thing K1 has equal to D800 or D810 is megapixel...For the rest you can not compare them.Do you think people would be between K1 or D810? :)

My point is simple,I explained above...Buy Pentax for a better reason,not for its price!

Last thing;When you miss focus slightly on relatively low resolution camera,you will not notice...But when you miss focus just a tiny bit on a 36mp camera,you will curse its AF ability ;)So If Pentax was a 24 mp camera,it was better for them.

If Ricoh-Pentax wanna play this game,they have to solve their AF problem really!...Anytime when Pentax releases new camera,Pentaxians have said "this time they have solved".

I would buy Pentax K1,if I was into landscape photography or I would buy it for 43mm and 77 mm combo (I wouldnt expect proper AF thou).For the rest D750 is better choice FOR ME.

Yanko Kitanov,Read what YOU YOURSELF have written first!You said "You forgot to mention FF DSLR prices - they were cut in half by the K-1 at CP+ 2016 ;)"Now reconsider your point!Next time instead of stealing Stu 5's words,have your own words!

You claimed that FF DSLR prices are cut half by Pentax!!No,the truth is;they are cut by D600 and 6D!But still I didn't compare it with D610/600 or 6D.

@Tarzan I shoot Pentax, Nikon, Sony, Canon, Sigma and Leica and have less than 5% missed focus with AF(the same goes for Pentax alone ~5%) and almost never miss it using MF.Last time when I had to regret I missed a photo due to AF was more than 3 years ago. How do I do that?

When I sent my answer for Stu 5,your answer were not there.Prolly there is a lag!You have no idea what you yourself are talking about!Your statement was simple (and wrong)...You said with Pentax K1full-frame camera prices are cut half.Which is (I am being nice) simply not true!And beside that,I took your attention to the lens prices.Then you started being a fan boy saying that;"C) You compare the K-1 to cameras lacking quite a few of the function that K-1 users are going to enjoy daily."I will not argue with you about this...But do know every brand has advantages and disadvantages!I still have some Pentax equipment...But after missing thousands of photos due to focus issues,I switched to the Nikon.Now I am able to take photos of dogs running around like crazy with 85mm 1.8 G lens (which is known with its slow autofocus).cause I have made my expertise with Pentax' stupid AF!

Seriously I would like to see photos of those people who are constantly talking about Ansel Adams!Can I see your photos?

Can you take as good as his photos,even while u have better technology nowadays?

He didn't need AF tracking,and those guys who took photos in Olympic games I really admire them!

I am not making a live with my camera,so I don't need to be as pro as they are.But I can say those old cameras' viewfinders and those old lenses are much easier to focus manually.

But beside all these are you taking JUST landscapes and citiescapes?..wouldn't it be good to be able to have the whole package? Don't you have kids around you,nieces or nephews? This is why you assume that K1 is a good camera for everyone?

I already made the point,I will repeat!

I would buy Pentax K1,if I was into landscape photography or I would buy it for 43mm and 77 mm combo (I wouldnt expect proper AF thou).For the rest D750 is better choice FOR ME.

I use MF lenses mostly - even for the kids - I don't need AF in my workflow.

I will sound strange perhaps but I don't like Pentax limited lenses and not because of AF - the comparatively low resolution, the smaller maximal aperture and the high prices make for a real poor bang for the buck to me personally.

Regarding shooting the dog - my point is that it is easier and more common to shoot pets using a wider lens and not a 85mm no matter the focusing you use. Of course you would love to take pictures of things you love.

Nice photos of Istanbul!I have read about MF techniques before (like every Pentaxian does lol)...With a good bright viewfinder,I can take some good photos of moving subjects too.Pentax also has "catch-in focus" which is cool.I don't know if Nikon or Canon has it.But the idea,I am trying to get rid of is;to be achieved harder doesn't mean the final output more valuable.I was thinking like that.But now I am trying to change my view-point and use the technology as much as I can.But while doing that,I still admire people who get the same results (even better) with less.

I have taken really nice action photos with relatively poor K200D + 55-300 combo...But I have missed many as well!85mm lens I am using for portraits of course...But I have mentioned it with the dog photos because I wanted to emphasize how much difference there is,between Pentax' AF technology and other brands.I have written that before too,but I want to repeat here;.......................

It is probably not because of back-focus issue...It is because Pentax cameras' AF points are TOO big.They are trying to compensate their poor tracking ability by keeping focus points bigger than they supposed to be.And the result is,focus shift to shoulders or ears.

Anyway I can write hundreds of pages for autofocus really,cause while using Pentax as my main camera I had to read and observe too much.But It is not the correct thread to discuss about it.

Seattle's Freeway Park is a labyrinth of trees, towers of concrete and tourists. Turns out, it's also a great place to practice parkour. With several Sony a9's in hand, we turned our lenses to the skies to capture some flying humans in our latest sample gallery.

The D850 was just announced, and by all accounts it's shaping up to be a very impressive DSLR. But should you upgrade your current camera? In this article, we've broken down the D850's main selling points compared to several popular models.

Latest in-depth reviews

Panasonic's premium compact DC-ZS200 (TZ200 outside of North America) boasts a 24-360mm equiv. F3.3-6.4 zoom lens, making it the longest reaching 1"-type pocket camera on the market. There are tradeoffs that come with that big lens, however. Find out all the details in our in-depth review.

The Hex Raven DSLR bag holds a ton of gear and employs a low-profile design that doesn't scream "I'm a camera bag." We think it's a little too bulky for everyday use, but makes for a great option when traveling with a lot of gear.

The Sony a7 III sets a new benchmark for full-frame cameras thanks to its compelling combination of value and capability. It's at home shooting everything from sports to portraits, and is one of the most impressive all-around cameras we've seen in a long while. Find out all the details in our full review.

Latest buying guides

What's the best camera for a parent? The best cameras for shooting kids and family must have fast autofocus, good low-light image quality and great video. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for parents, and recommended the best.

What's the best camera for shooting landscapes? High resolution, weather-sealed bodies and wide dynamic range are all important. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting landscapes, and recommended the best.

What’s the best camera costing over $2000? The best high-end camera costing more than $2000 should have plenty of resolution, exceptional build quality, good 4K video capture and top-notch autofocus for advanced and professional users. In this buying guide we’ve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing over $2000 and recommended the best.

What's the best camera for taking pictures of people and events? Reliable autofocus, good image quality in low light, and great colors straight from the camera are all important. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting people and events, and recommended the best.

The new HP DesignJet Z6 and Z9+ supposedly offer "the fastest printing capabilities available on the market today," all while using fewer ink tanks, and featuring useful add-ons like a built-in vertical trimmer.

In an effort to streamline production and minimize confusion, RED has announced that it is simplifying its product lineup to three main cameras. As an added bonus, this change dramatically drops the prices for all three options.

Fujifilm's new X-T100 is an SLR-style mirrorless camera that takes the internals of the X-A5, including phase-detect AF, and adds a fully articulating LCD and high-res OLED viewfinder. The X-T100 is priced at a very reasonable $599/€599 body-only and $699/€699/£619 with a 15-45mm lens.

Panasonic's latest firmware update for its GH5S, GH5 and G9 series of cameras was leaked in Japan earlier today and is now being officially announced a week early. But don't get too excited – you still won't be able to download it until May 30th.

We've been saying for years that the term "lens compression" is misleading, but Lee Morris over at Fstoppers has put together a useful video that explains why this is the case, and demonstrates it with two easy-to-understand examples.

Last week, some 'leaked' photos were published online that purported to show a DJI Phantom 5 drone with interchangeable lens camera and several prime lenses. The rumor was widely reported, but DPReview has learned that those images do not, in fact, show a Phantom 5 at all.

Award-winning fashion and celebrity photographer Markus Klinko recently tested out the Godox EC-200 flash extension head. Actually, he tested out four of them, creating a quad-flash ring light alternative that works great for both beauty and close-up work.

According to a recent investor presentation, Sony intends to occupy the top slot in the overall camera market by the end of 2020, beating back Canon and Nikon by boosting its interchangeable lens systems.

Google has finally added the ability to mark your favorite images in Google Photos, so they can be filtered into a dedicated album. The service is also planning to a social network-like "heart" button that lets you like other people's photos.

We've been messing around with Apollo, an iOS app that allows you to add 3D lighting effects to images using depth information, and have to say we're impressed with what it's capable of – but that doesn't mean we don't have a few requests for the next version.

The new lightweight laptop packs a whole lot of photo- and video-editing punch. The laptop can be specced out with a Core i9 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, NVIDIA graphics with 4GB of GDDR5, and a 4K display with 100% Adobe RGB coverage.

It looks like Canon is getting into sensor sales. The three specialized CMOS sensors the company recently demoed—including a 120MP APS-H model and an ultra-low light sensor—have been listed for sale through a distributor in the US.

Kodak Alaris has launched a new single-use disposable camera in Europe. Called the Kodak Daylight Single Use Camera, this 800 ISO film camera is supposedly ideal for parties, weddings, and similar events.

Computer vision company Lucid and cinema camera maker RED have partnered to create an 8K 3D camera that can capture 4-view (4V) holographic images and video in real-time. The camera is designed to work with RED's upcoming holographic Hydrogen One smartphone.

If Canon and Nikon do get into high-end mirrorless, it's almost certain that they'll do everything they can to maintain compatibility with their existing mounts. But, asks Richard Butler, wouldn't it be more interesting if they built a small, niche system to live alongside their existing DSLRs?

You know that feeling when you're already all suited up and out on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station, and only then do you realize you forgot to put the SD card in your GoPro? No? Us either... but one astronaut on the ISS sure does.

From 2015 to 2017, filmmaker Macgregor and his crew spend many months traveling back and forth on the famed Mauritanian Railway—the so-called 'Backbone of the Sahara—to document the grueling journey endured by merchants who regularly travel atop this train. This beautifully-executed short doc is the result.

Synology has added a new 6-bay NAS to its DiskStation+ series, and it's aimed squarely at photographers and medium sized businesses. The DS1618+ can handle up to six 12TB drives, giving it a max capacity of 72TB, or up to 60TB in RAID 5.

Our original gallery for Tamron's new 70-210mm F4 had portraits, slow-moving wildlife and city scenes, but was sorely missing fast action. We remedied that by photographing some motorcycles flying through the air.

This week on DPReview TV, Chris and Jordan prepare for the summer holiday season by putting several popular waterproof cameras to the test. If you're considering a rugged camera for the beach or pool this summer, or if you just want to see what a Chris and Jordan fishing show might look like, tune in.

Soulumination is a non-profit organization that provides life-affirming legacy photography to families facing serious medical conditions, completely free of charge. This video shares the work they are doing.

Fujifilm EU seems to have accidentally leaked an unreleased camera to the masses. The leaked page details a new "X-T100" camera that will share most of its specs with the X-A5, but includes an EVF, deeper buffer, and 3-way tilting touchscreen.

LA-based director and cinematographer Phil Holland of PHFX recently joined forces with Gotham Film Works to create something out-of-this-world. Using a special aerial camera array, Holland shot a flyover of New York City using not one, not two, but three 8K RED Weapon Monstro VistaVision cameras.